Drivers often need to maintain contact with their passengers when the passenger leaves the vehicle. For example, when conducting errands, a passenger might enter a store only to have to come back to the car to ask an awaiting driver a question. Cellular telephones can be used to keep drivers and passengers in communication with each other, but the use of cellular telephones is attendant with difficulties. For example, there must be two cellular phones available for use, there may be no service where the car is parked, and the telephones' battery might be drained. Moreover, the use of cellular phones requires dialing and often is associated with usage charges. Two-way radios also can be used to maintain communication between the driver and the passenger; however, in order for those devices to function, they must be tuned to a common frequency, have charged batteries, and be carried by both the driver and the passenger.
Manually tuning the two-way radios to a common frequency with low noise at the present location of the vehicle creates a further impediment to their use.
What is needed in the art is a convenient communication system and method that enables communication between a person in a vehicle and a passenger outside of the vehicle. The present invention satisfies this and other needs.